This invention relates to floor cleaning machines. Floor cleaning machines, particularly floor scrubbers, typically employ one or more powered rotary scrub brushes suspended beneath the scrubber vehicle, and peripheral skirts or splash guards around the machine periphery for retaining the floor cleaning liquid beneath the vehicle. Heretofore the scrub brushes have been directly mounted to the vehicle frame, or have been vertically movable relative to the vehicle frame. The skirts/splash guards are sometimes mounted to the brush motor or motor support as in FIG. 13, and sometimes are mounted directly to the vehicle frame independent of vertically movable brushes as in FIG. 14.
Disadvantages of the FIG. 13 arrangement include poor appearance of the machine due to exposure of the motor and related mechanism, difficulty in seeing and installing new brushes because of interference by the skirt, and skirt dragging and premature wear of the skirt as the brush bristles wear down.
Disadvantages of the FIG. 14 arrangement include the fact that the skirt remains in engagement with the floor when the brush is elevated, and that, on uneven floors, the skirt will at least partially lift enough to allow cleaning fluid to spray out under the splash guard.